Helen Knight

Printed sensors track movement to monitor health and fitness

News

Smart textiles that track their wearer’s movements could be used to help monitor people’s health or fitness levels, but the technology has so far proven difficult to incorporate unobtrusively into clothing.

Now a prototype smart shirt, equipped with sensors that monitor movement, is being developed by a team at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg.

The MONI shirt, which is being presented at IDTechEX on 27 and 28 April and was developed in collaboration with researchers at Fraunhofer ISIT, contains a transparent material printed with a piezoelectric polymer sensor paste.

The ferroelectric polymer paste is flexible, non-toxic, and registers pressure and deformation, allowing the material to act as a touch and motion sensor. It is also pyroelectric, meaning it is sensitive to changes in temperature and as a result can be used as a proximity sensor.

The paste is deposited onto the fabric or surface using a simple screen printing process. The paste is applied to a screen, which is then placed onto the substrate, according to Dr Gerhard Domann, head of the competence unit for optics and electronics at Fraunhofer ISC.

Register now to continue reading

Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.  

Benefits of registering

  • In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends

  • Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year

  • Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox

Register
Or continue by

Signing in with your registered email address